1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air filter for an air conditioner, which comprises a frame body and a mesh secured to the frame body.
2. Description of Related Art
The applicant of this application previously proposed an air filter for an air conditioner as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-312593. This air filter is designed to be secured to an air suction port of the air conditioner, and comprises a frame body and a mesh secured to the frame body.
FIG. 1 shows an enlarged schematic view of a main part of the air filter as described above, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the air filter as shown in FIG. 1 which is taken along a line VII--VII. The conventional air filter 250 as shown in FIG. 1 has been formed as follows. A mesh 253 which is formed of polypropylene resin or the like is disposed in a metal mold, and then ABS resin or the like is injected into the mold to integrally form a frame body 251 with the mesh 253. That is, the frame body 281 and the mesh 253 which constitute the air filter 250 as described above are formed of ABS resin and Polypropylene respectively.
In addition, a projecting support piece 282 is provided at the back side of the frame body 251 so as to be pinched by a latch provided at an air suction port of the air conditioner. The support piece 252 is also formed of ABS resin in the injection molding process where the frame body 251 is integrally formed while disposing the mesh 253 in the mold.
In this type of air filter, as shown in FIG. 2, a joint portion 254 between the frame body 251 and the mesh 253 is formed so as to extend over the base portion 252a of the support piece in the above injection molding process. The frame body 251 and the mesh 253 are formed of different materials (i.e., ABS resin and Polypropylene respectively), and thus the adhesiveness therebetween at the joint portion 254 is degraded. Since the joint portion 254 is formed so as to extend over the base portion 252a of the support piece 252 as described above, the support piece 252 may be damaged (e.g., bent or broken) when the support piece 252 is kept under strong force while pinched by the latch. The bending or breaking of the support piece 252 disenables the air filter to be secured to the air conditioner.
In order to avoid the above disadvantage, the joint portion 254 may be designed not to extend over the base portion 252a of the support piece 252 (i.e., to avoid the base portion 252a of the support piece 252) and so that a portion of the joint portion 254 in the neighborhood of the support piece 252 has a smaller width than that of the other portions thereof. However, in such construction, the mesh 253 and the frame body 252 would be liable to be detached from each other.